Artist Statement:
Personally speaking, the pandemic only changed some aspects of my life. Because I was a teenager, my personality, perception of the world and other essential skills developed then.
On the other hand, when I look back and remember moments when there was no pandemic, I feel that our lives were easier, happier and looser. By “looser” I mean that we now have a lot of restrictions and taboos on certain things, like always using hand-sanitizer, air-ventilating different spaces and doing Covid tests every time we feel unwell. Those paranoiac senses will stay with several generations for years. But then I realize that our lives were not like this two years ago. We could freely hug each other, go to a concert with a big crowd near the stage and kiss a stranger there.
So on my artwork, I demonstrated my feeling after finally getting out of lockdown and starting to live a “normal life”. It is the same no more. My life feels like I cannot see the whole image, something is interrupting me. This symbolizes my struggling with going back to live my past life, when I have to start a new one. So I hide, do not look around entirely and feel sad about it.
Artist: Mariia Kostian
Program: Visual and Digital Arts
Toronto based fine artist, Maria Kostian, finds her inspiration in spirituality, which is one of the main themes in her artworks. Originally from Ukraine, she constantly uses elements of her origin’s folklore, honoring the one of the richest culture’s history. Throughout her life, she was always painting in her spare time. During school period, Maria attended local art academy, but after three years of courses, she decided to continue her art journey by herself. She is now Visual and Digital Arts student in Humber College. Maria’s work combines abstraction and pure realism and brings up topics related to growing up, cognition of her inner self, relationships between people and the world.